Codex: Tau Navy
by CALiGeR190
Summary: Everything you'll need to know about the Kor'vatra (Tau Navy).
1. Tau Strike Craft

**Tau Strike Craft**  
 _Improvised killers_

 **Barracuda Supremacy Fighter**

Length: 14 metres

Wing span: 16 metres

Crew: 1 (Pilot).

Sub-light engine: 2 Ion-Thrust engines

Power supply: Cold-Fusion Plasma Generator.

Standard Armament: 1 Nose-Mounted Ion Cannon, 8 Wing Mounted Missile Tubes, 2 Drone-Controlled Burst Cannons

FTL capable: no

Lore: The Barracuda is the most common fighter craft known to be in regular use with the Tau. In the Void-fighter role, its small size and high mobility make it exceptionally difficult to target and hit with conventional weapons, only made worse by the skill of Air Caste pilots and the sophisticated early warning systems built into the craft. However, they are slow by void-craft standards, meaning a Barracuda caught out of position is unlikely to escape the claws of an enemy.

In terms of firepower, they lack the raw power of some of their larger competitors, but a single shot from its nose-mounted Ion Cannon or a single of its missiles is more than capable taking down on of the Imperial Navies Fury Interceptors or its equivalents.

This grizzly fact coming to surface during the disastrous Damocles Crusade, where the Barracuda proved its deadly potential by inflicting horrific damage on the Imperial Air and Void fighter fleets across numerous engagements. The Navy repeatedly prevented from securing air supremacy, and endlessly harassed at every step by Barracudas and Mantas. Although the Barracuda was not meant as a Void Craft, they have certainly carved out a name for themselves among Imperial veterans.

 **Manta Missile Destroyer**

Length: 35 metres

Wing span: 60 metres

Crew: 8 (Pilot, Gunners. Sometimes also a Commander and/or Ethereal).

Sub-light engine: 2 Heavy Ion-Thrust engines

Power supply: 2 Cold-Fusion Plasma Generators.

Standard Armament: 2 Wing-Mounted Heavy Railguns, 6 Wing-Mounted Ion Cannon, 10 Nose-Mounted Missile Tubes, 16 Drone-Controlled Burst Cannons. Can use transport capacity to carry up to 40 Heavy Anti-Shipping Missiles, Anti-Shipping mines, or 2 Anti-Shipping Gravatic Torpedoes

Troop Capacity: Upto 188 Fire Warriors, 24 Gun Drones, or 12 Heavy Weapon Drones, or 44 Kroot Warriors, 4 Medium vehicles (Devilfish, Hammerheads, Sky rays or Piranhas) as well as 10 Crisis Battlesuits, or 5 Broadside Battlesuits.  
Or alternatively 50 Crisis suits, 25 Broadside suits, 36 Heavy Gun Drones, 12 Drone Sentry Turrets and 12 Tetras.

FTL capable: no

Lore: The Manta is designed and built like a miniature warship, and to all intents and purposes it effectively is. Able to carry an entire Hunter Cadre into battle, pack the firepower of several tank companies into one craft, and pack enough anti-shipping weapon to crack open even the most well protecting of enemy vessels. It often takes whole Imperial Fighter Squadron's combined effort to successfully stop a single Manta from reaching their target, and often at a steep price.

While not as massive as the Star Hawk, the Manta makes more efficient use of its internal and exterior spaces. Having far greater firepower and protection than the larger vessel, although suffering from a slow speed just like its Imperial rival. In an attack on a capital, there are few things more terrifying than a flight of Mantas. Being almost impossible to stop, and able to devastate the hull of most ships in one pass. Failing that, they can deploy dozens of Battlesuits, and fire warrior breacher teams to board a vessel, and wreak havoc on internal system. A few Mantas even able to completely flood the decks of smaller capital ships with troops and battlesuits.

However, they were not purpose-built for this role, and despite being fairly well protected, they suffered heavily when pitted against some of the largest vessels in the Imperium. The lordly vessels simply shrugging aside their blows and rarely allowing many Manta's to return to their home bases. As such, Tau commanders are hesitant to join the Mantas as launch an attack on an Imperial fleet, as they usually would during a land-based assault. As such operations are normally costly, and Tau Commanders would easily become the victim of an Imperial Fury or PD gunner.


	2. Tau Escorts

**Tau Escorts**  
 _The First Line_

 **Kir'qath (Defender)-Class Frigate**

Size: 1.8 KM long, 0.3 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 3 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding.

Standard Main Armament: 1 Heavy Railgun Battery (prow mounted), 4 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 2 Orcas

Lore: The Defender was built as a direct response to the Sword Class Frigates of the Imperial Navy, which seemed unstoppable as they rushed Tau convoys, obliterated huge numbers of defenceless transports, and slipped away with ease before the lumbering merchant defensive fleet could respond effectively. The defender, being the first true purpose-built escort in the still-young tau navy, being the first concentrated effort to halt these deathly raids.

The Defender was slow for an escort, managing only about 2/3rd of the acceleration of the venerable Imperial design, and was not as well protecting having inferior shielding systems and armour that was positively flimsy by comparison. The FTL capabilities of the Defender where also a disappointment. Only able to perform 6 short-ranged jumps with its Ether Drive before being forced to wait 15 Terran hours for a recharge, making the escort woefully under equipped for scouting or patrol duties.

However, as purely a close-defence vessel, the Defender was excellent. Having Gravatic Launchers and Heavy Rail guns able to contest with the Imperial escorts and pose a serious threat even to larger vessels when amassed in large groups. Such was their potency as defensive screening ships, that the Imperium was forced to send larger and larger vessels to oversee raids on convoys and assist the now struggling Sword Escorts that merely decades before made short work of whole groups of Tau ships.

This escalation eventually lead to surrounding Imperial Battlefleets launching fewer and fewer raids, for fear they would lose more than they would gain in such attacks. Much of the Tau Empires early success can be attributed to the Defender, as without the seemingly mediocre escort, expansion into Imperial held territory simply would not have been possible.

Later in the life of the Tau Navy, they still see use, although are now seen more as a liability due to their tactical inflexibility but are still called upon to support some of the heavier Tau ships and protect important convoys travelling through the Empires growing domain.

 **Skether'qan (Messenger)-Class Starship**

Size: 1.2 KM long, 0.4 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 5.1 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding.

Standard Main Armament: 1 Heavy Railgun Battery (prow mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 2 Orcas

Lore: The Messenger was never intended to be a combat vessel, but as the only true scout vessel available to the fledgling Tau Navy, its role in battle was instrumental to their success. The Messenger was, and still is, the smallest and fastest vessel to be fitted with a Ether Drive. Its weapons and protection are purely token, meant to deter an attacker long enough for the Messenger to escape, but the ship does feature some of the most advanced targeting and data handing equipment of the Tau Navy. Meaning the Messenger in battle assist by relaying targeting data to larger ships and screening against bombers, while the larger warships swat aside anything that might aim to destroy the small escort.

The ship is also a favourite for diplomats of the Water Caste. Able to slip in and slip out of naval blockades and offer just enough firepower to convince an opposing party that an agreement favourable for the empire is wise. Such craft being seen used in gun-point diplomacy in many systems throughout the region.

 **Kass'l (Orca)-class Gunship**

Size: 1.5 KM long, 0.3 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 4 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding.

Standard Main Armament: 1 Heavy Railgun Battery (prow mounted), 1 Ion Cannon Battery (prow mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 2 Orcas

Lore: The Orca was the second true escort class to be developed by the Tau Navy, to further increase the power of the growing merchant fleet with effective escort ship designs. The Orca design was an improvement over the Defender in that it was smaller, increasing survivability, more effective sublight engine systems and traded away the slow-moving gravatic torpedo systems with a highly destructive Ion Cannon Battery for anti-escort duties. The ineffective Ether Drive was also gutted, the Earth Caste instead inventing an innovative new way of deploying the defensive escorts: Gravatic Hooks. This meant that Orcas could be tethered to larger ships, which had Ether Drives, and be deployed to where it was needed alongside the capital ships of the merchant navy to defend convoys moving through enemy space.

Although this greatly improved the capacity of the new Tau Navy to deploy effective counter measures to Ork and Imperial raids, the new Orcas also lacked even the limited versatility of the Defender and were very reliant on their mother ship to swing battles in their favour while they acted as defence. Not able to move from a system without a parent vessel, many Orcas would also be left stranded in the event their capital ship is damaged or destroyed: although the presence of Orcas did make such an event much less likely to occur.

 **Kir'la (Warden)-Class Frigate**

Size: 1.6 KM long, 1.8 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 4.1 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding.

Standard Main Armament: 2 Heavy Railgun Turrets (dorsal/Wing mounted), 2 Ion Cannon Batteries (Prow Mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 2 Orcas

Lore: The Warden represents a radical shift in Tau ship design away from refitting existing civilian designs and towards purpose-built warships. Previous escort designs in the Defender and the Orca, while radical for their time, and important for the Tau Navies development, where virtually indistinguishable from the transports they defended. This was no accident as the Earth Caste, looking to make most efficient use of resources and optimise the vessels for defence of convoys, where effectively refits of existing civilian freighters and cargo lighters. This made the perfectly optimised for their intended roles, often mistaken for the very cargo vessels they protected and catching assailants by surprise as they descended on 'undefended' convoys.

But as traditional escorts, they proved woefully mediocre vs their competition. Imperial designs outclassing them in every regard, and Ork designs simply overpowered them with brute force. The Warden was designed specifically as a counter to competing escort designs, to address the capability gap Tau commanders where painfully aware of.

The Warden still required a parent ship to be deployed, but once deployed to an area they were more than capable of operating as independent escort squadrons. Having a massive array of weapons for an escort vessel, larger firing angles, better armour protection, and by far the most powerful engines equipped to an escort in the Tau Navy by that point.

The first encounter by the Imperium occurred immediately after a raid on Tau convoys bound for the Damocles Gulf from Dal'yth to honour a trade agreement made in secret to a local governor. A group of 4 Sword Class Frigates known as the 'Red Prows' successfully engaged and destroyed several Tau convoys and their Defender escorts before running into three of the new Warden Class frigates which had been deployed via a Merchant Class Cruiser thousands of kilometres away.  
The two sides engaged in a short and viscous firefight, which ended with neither side a clear victor. The Red Prows losing two of their number in exchange for one Warden destroyed and another Warden badly damaged, both escort commanders chose to disengage for repairs rather than continue fighting.

Although this was not a victory for the Tau empire, it was cause for celebration, as it proved the design was capable of trading toe-to-toe with Imperial escorts and come out of the engagement on potentially favourable terms. For Imperial commanders, it painted a grim picture of what was to come from the Tau Navy.

 **Kir'shashvre (Castellan)-Class Heavy Frigate**

Size: 1.7 KM long, 2 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 4.1 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding.

Standard Main Armament: 3 Heavy Railgun Turrets (dorsal and dorsal/Wing mounted), 4 Gravatic torpedo launchers (Prow Mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 2 Orcas

Lore: Continuing on from the success of the Warden, the Tau Fleet looked to increase the flexibility of its escorts, to have an escort class capable of long range scouting mission as well as combat duties now they had a design that could comfortably challenge the Sword and Firestorm Class Frigates in battle.

The answer to improving versatility was of course to fit an Ether Drive to the Warden and grant them a weapon system more able to challenge the armour and shielding of larger Imperial ships. The Castellan was Earth Caste's final product, trading Ion Cannons for gravatic torpedoes more able to damage large capital ships and increasing the number of wide-angle Railgun weapons for fighting escorts. The Castellan's Ether Drive being much improved from the Defender and Messenger Drives. Able to transport the large escort much greater distances with each jump, achieve more jumps, and require less time to recharge.

The Castellan first saw action above Taros, alongside the defected PDF fleet, against a large fleet of warships sent to deny the Tau the Imperial mining world. The Castellan not only was able to trade toe-for-toe with Imperial Frigates but posed a dire threat to larger warships in large groups. Even able to pursue Imperial commanders back to their staging grounds and mount raids of their own, something that previously was beyond the capabilities of the Tau Fleet. The utter failure of the Imperial Navy at Taros proved to be a turning point for the balance of power in the region. From then on, the Tau could take the initiative in void combat, and had warships able to strike back at the Imperium and consistently best their Imperial equivalents. Imperial Void supremacy over the Tau would never again be achieved, and dark times abound for the future of the Imperial navy in the region.


	3. Tau Cruisers

**Tau Cruisers**  
 _Empire Workhorses_

 **Il'fannor (Merchant)-class Cruiser**

Size: 4 KM long, 1 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 1.9 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding.

Standard Main Armament:  
Ke'lshan Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (1 per broadside), 2 Gravatic Hooks (1 per broadside) and 1 Heavy Railgun Battery (Prow Mounted)

Dal'yth Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (1 per broadside), 2 Heavy Ion Cannon Batteries (1 per broadside) and 1 Heavy Railgun Battery (Prow Mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 6 Orca transports (Both Configurations) and 2 Kass'l (Orca)-class Gunships (Ke'lshan Configuration only)

Lore: Large, bulky, and never designed as a combat vessel. The Merchant Class was, for a long time, the only ship the Tau had which could be called a 'capital ship' when compared to their immediate rivals among the Ork war bands and Imperial Navy. The Merchant was originally built as a cargo hauler, meant to transport goods in huge bulk between star systems so that frontier colonies could be developed with the utmost speed, and garrisoned against enemy aggression. But, particularly when the Damocles Crusade began, it had become clear to the Tau military that the Merchant required a means of defence against enemy escorts that roved through Tau space with little to challenge them: a capital ship was needed, and the Merchant met the size requirements.

As a result, the Merchant was hastily converted into a warship. Its frame was covered in Railguns and thick armour plates, and it received a gravatic shield generator and more powerful Ether Drive. In combination with the development of the Orca Gunship, the Merchant was chosen as the means to deploy the new escorts by having gravatic hooks fitted to its port and starboard side. This meant that now a Merchant would always have a pair of escorts to defend the large capital ship, in combination with an extensive battery of capital-ship calibre weapons.

Although this was more than enough to deal with convoy raids, the appearance of one or two merchants and their Orcar cohorts usually enough to either destroy an attacking force or force them into retreat, when faced with opposing capital ships the Merchant lacked any effective way of combating them or escaping the unfavourable engagement due to their cripplingly low sub-light speed and relatively short FTL range.

A perfect example was the ill-fated trade mission carried out by the _Ura'kym Droma_ sometime in M41. The ship had been involved in trade for two centuries up to that point and had received its militarisation package to increase security during transit into Imperial-held space, when it ran into a pair of Dauntless class Light Cruisers patrolling the Damocles Gulf for activity. The resulting firefight lead to the destruction of the Merchant and both its escorts for only moderate damage to one of the light cruisers.

Appalled by this performance, the Dal'yth shipyards began fitting the Merchant with Heavy Ion Cannons more able to contest the capital ships of opposing factions instead of gravatic hooks. While this increased the ability of the Merchant to operate independently, and the invention of the Warden Class Frigate greatly improved the Merchants chances of winning a battle in the original Ke'lshan configuration, it was painfully clear that more dramatic changes needed to occur before the Tau Navy could truly operate effective capital ships.

 **Lar'shi (Hero)-class Cruiser**

Size: 4.6 KM long, 0.8 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 2.1 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition Gravatic shielding and prow deflector shields.

Standard Main Armament:  
Vash'ya Configuration: 2 Heavy Ion Cannon Batteries (1 per broadside), 2 Launch Bays (1 per broadside), 1 Heavy Railgun Battery (Prow Mounted) and 1 Heavy Gravatic Launcher (Prow Mounted)

Tol'ku Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (1 per broadside), 2 Launch Bays (1 per broadside), 1 Heavy Railgun Battery (Prow Mounted) and 1 Heavy Gravatic Launcher (Prow Mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 6 Manta Missile Destroyers, 24 Barracuda supremacy fighters, 6 Orca transports

Lore: The Hero was designed as a warship to counter the terror of the Imperial Lunar Class Cruiser. Tau commanders consumed by a desire to end the carnage of the Imperial Line Cruisers with a warship that could effectively challenge the Imperial designs.

The encounter that inspired the creation of the Hero was the Tau encounter with the Lunar Class Cruiser _Graf Strupp_ which had been deployed to the area by Battlefleet Kronos to deal with rumours of xenos expansion and traitors consorting with alien emissaries. The Cruiser being the Battlefleet's only response to the claim, as the mighty battleships and battlecruisers normally sent to quell rebellions where locked in a long war with Hive Fleet Behemoth bound head-long for Ultramar. That being said, the Graf was no lesser vessel. Being equipped with a Nova Cannon, the venerable vessel had served with distinction under innumerable Imperial Captains since the Horus Heresy.  
She made her presence known, and struck terror into the hearts of the Tau, by attacking several convoys all along the Damocles Gulf. Her final kill tally isn't known, but she is known to have destroyed at least one Merchant Cruiser and no fewer than a dozen Defender escorts.

The Hero was the result of this brief era of terrifying raids, a ship designed specifically from the ground-up to fight Imperial capital ships. The Hero was longer and slimmer than the Merchant, to pack more weapons onto a ship with a smaller target profile. The Hero also featured a suite of anti-capital ship weapons which included launch bays, which carried a squadron of Barracudas and a squadron of Mantas each; a pair of Heavy Ion Cannon Batteries and a Gravatic Launcher. The latter-most weapon being a new design for a super-massive rail gun inspired by the awesome power of the Imperial Nova Cannon.  
The Hero also saw revolutionary increases in her protection, with the addition of a forward deflector shield able to direct enemy fire away from the vessel and prevent would-be fatal shots from connecting with the ships hull.

The Graf would encounter a pair of the new Tau Cruisers during another raid on a small convoy near Mu'Gulath Bay, the Imperial Cruiser baited onto the Tau guns with empty transports. The fight from the very beginning proved the supremacy of the venerable Imperial design. The Lunar Cruiser easily capable of outrunning the Hero cruisers, and her own weapons more than capable of damaging the Tau vessels, although with difficulty thanks to the new defector shields.  
However, fatal errors in judgement resulted in the Graf taking a crippling round from the Gravatic Launchers from both Hero Cruisers, setting the ship adrift in space and motionless. The Graf would be later recovered and repaired, but similar suppression tactics would never again be attempted against the Tau Empire.

Although the Hero had failed to be the equal of the Imperial Line cruisers, it did prove that it was a very capable cruiser that could hold its own in a fight. Future configurations would be made to make the ship less specialised as a capital ship killer and improve versatility, but the Hero would remain in service into the 42nd millennium and saw service during the Taros campaign alongside the more modern ships of the Tau Navy.

 **Il'Porrui (Emissary)-class Cruiser**

Size: 3 KM long, 3 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 4.1 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition, Gravatic shielding and prow deflector shields.

Standard Main Armament:  
Sa'cea Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batterys (wing mounted) 3 Launch Bays (along the spine and prow mounted) and 2 Gravatic Hooks (wing mounted)

Bor'kan Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (wing mounted), 2 Launch Bays (along the spine), 3 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers (Prow Mounted) and 2 Heavy Ion Cannon Batterys (wing mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft:  
Sa'cea Configuration: 6 Manta Missile Destroyers, 30 Barracuda supremacy fighters, 6 Orca transports and 2 Kir'la (Warden)-Class Frigates

Bor'kan Configuration: 4 Manta Missile Destroyers, 20 Barracuda supremacy fighters and 4 Orca transports

Lore: While small for a light cruiser, the Emissary was the first vessel the Tau Navy built that could fill the role of light cruiser and was a radical upgrade over the Messenger that it was intended to replace in the role of diplomatic vessel. The intention being to provide valuable tau personnel better protection in high-risk systems, or systems not completely compliant with Tau negations.

In the original Sa'cea configuration, this meant the ship itself relatively lightly armed (although still much better armed than the messenger) with only 2 wide-angel heavy rail gun batteries but carried with it two of the deadly new Warden Class Frigates and enough strike craft to challenge a line cruiser or dominate most planets' airspace. In this configuration, the emissary was perfect as a diplomatic vessel, as it could perform its own reconnaissance, and send forwards its cohort of escorts and strike craft to clear a path for the delivery of its on-board diplomats with minimal risk.

However, its potential as a light cruiser detached from envoy duties was fully realised with the Bor'kan Configuration. This configuration giving the light cruiser a scary arsenal of strike craft, ion cannons and rail guns in addition to long-range Gravatic torpedo launchers. This configuration proved its effective during the Taros Campaign. Three Bor'kan Emissarys working in cooperation succeeded in disabling an Emperor Class Battleship with a combination of manta and torpedo strikes, swatting aside the much larger warship's escorts with their ion cannons and railguns, before boarding the ship with breacher teams and battle suits rendering the battleship dead-in-space. The Imperial fleet, without their flagship, was then forced to flee or risk being overwhelmed by waves of tau strike craft.

 **Lar'shi'vre (Protector)-class Cruiser**

Size: 3.8 KM long, 4.8 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unknown

Max Acceleration: 3.9 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition, Gravatic shielding and prow deflector shields.

Standard Main Armament:  
T'ros Configuration: 6 Heavy Railgun Batteries (2 prow mounted, 4 wing mounted), 2 Launch Bays (prow mounted) and 4 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers (Prow Mounted)

T'olku Configuration: 6 Heavy Railgun Batteries (2 prow mounted, 4 wing mounted), 2 Heavy Ion Cannon Batteries (wing mounted) and 4 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers (Prow Mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 6 Orca transports (both configurations), 6 Manta Missile Destroyers and 24 Barracuda supremacy fighters (T'ros configuration only)

Lore: The Protector, in both configurations, was the first true line cruiser the Tau Navy ever developed. Intended to replace the Hero Class Cruiser, the Protector was a radical redesign which maximised firepower and greatly improved over the older designs in terms of speed, mobility and protection.

While lacking the bulk or durability of Imperial line cruisers, it was more than capable of matching such vessels for firepower. Both configurations having a large number of Heavy Railgun batteries, strategically placed to maximise forward firepower at little expense of broadside firepower. The Protector able to cover very wide angles of fire with its weapon systems. To add to this flexibility, the T'ros brings strike craft for defensive and offensive purposes while the T'olku offers Heavy Ion cannons for greater concentrated firepower. However, lessons learned from the infamous _Graf Strupp_ raids have taught the Tau to deploy their cruisers in pairs. In this way able to always ensure the upper hand over lone Imperial capital ships while maximising firepower and protecting vs swarms of lesser enemies.

The Protector was first encountered by the Imperium during the Taros campaign. Here the Protector proved its lethal potential against Lunar and Dauntless Class cruisers, and as they travelled in pairs they would also be a dire threat to larger vessels if left unchecked. Although Tau commanders preferred to use them as raiding vessels alongside Castellan Heavy Frigates, drawing away Imperial fleets with tempting targets of opportunity and Castellan harassment attacks, then using protector cruisers to slaughter the poorly defended convoys. These raids starved the Imperial front line of much needed Guard reinforcements and essential supplies in the form of food and ammunition. The protector cited as one of the main causes for the failure of the crusade against Taros.


	4. Tau Battleships

**Tau Battleships**  
 _Sphere Vanguards_

 **Gal'leath (Explorer)-class Starship**

Size: 8 KM long, 2.6 KM abeam at widest point

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 1.5 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition and Gravatic shielding

Standard Main Armament:  
Vash'Ya Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (1 prow mounted, 1 Dorsal mounted), 4 Launch Bays (2 per broadside) and 3 Gravatic Hooks (Mounted Aft Section)

Bor'kan Configuration: 2 Heavy Railgun Batteries (1 prow mounted, 1 Dorsal mounted), 4 Launch Bays (2 per broadside), 6 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers (prow mounted) and 3 Gravatic Hooks (Mounted Aft Section)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft:  
Vash'Ya Configuration: 14 Orca transports, 16 Manta Missile Destroyers, 50 Barracuda supremacy fighters and 3 Kass'l (Orca)-class Gunships  
Bor'kan Configuration: 8 Orca transports, 8 Manta Missile Destroyers, 25 Baracuda supremacy fighters and 3 Kass'l (Orca)-class Gunships

Lore: The Explorer is one of the very first space-worthy vessels the Tau empire ever created, also being the first ship in tau service to be given an ether drive, thus making the Tau Empire as it is known now possible. These massive ships where the first to deliver the Tau race unto worlds outside of what was accessible with sub-light engines. Their huge bulk intended to provide anything and everything the tau would need when encountering new ecosystems, or other empires, carrying vast amounts of supplies and personnel of all castes and kinds to expand the Empire's horizons. Charting new worlds, new star systems, and introducing new civilisations to the greater good.

As a warship, the Explorer was perfectly capable of defending herself against attacks from PDF forces or low and mid-level threats. Its comparatively vast number of strike craft and escorts allowing it to hold enemies at arm's length while it plumbed them to wreckage with its high-angle railgun batteries. The Bor'kan configuration later developed to trade away some of its carrier potential to further increase the firepower of the Explorer with Gravatic Torpedo Launchers, to better deal with the tough line cruisers of the Imperial Navy.

However, when faced with the true born-and-bred battleships of the Imperial Navy during the Damocles Crusade, the Explorer was woefully inadequate. Lacking the speed, firepower or protection necessary to compete with the pride of the Imperial Navy. Many Explorers being slaughtered by Emperor and Retribution Class Battleships with contemptuous ease, unable to win a fight effectively at any range and unable to escape. This has resulted in the Explorer being no longer widely produced, although the ship still sees use. Partly as an honorary reminder of the great service it provided in birthing the Tau Empire, but also as a long-range escort-support vessel.

 **Or'es El'leath (Custodian)-class Battleship**

Size: 6.8 KM long, 6.8 KM abeam at the wings

Crew: Unkown

Max Acceleration: 2.9 g

Defences: Armour plating of Unknown composition, Gravatic shielding and prow deflector sheilds

Standard Main Armament: 9 Heavy Railgun Batteries (Wing and Dorsal Mounted), 2 Heavy Ion Cannon Batteries (Wing Mounted) 2 Launch Bays (Prow Mounted), 6 Gravatic Torpedo Launchers (Porw Mounted) and 3 Gravatic Hooks (Internally mounted)

Standard secondary Armament: Railguns and missile banks (belly and spine mounted, undetermined numbers)

Auxiliary craft: 10 Orca transports, 12 Manta Missile Destroyers, 42 Barracuda supremacy fighters and 3 Kir'la (Warden)-Class Frigates

Lore: The Custodian was the ultimate accumulation of all the Tau Navy's efforts to update and improve their fleet with radical redesigns. As it had become painfully clear that the Explorer was not capable of fulfilling the role of battleship for the Tau Navy, a vessel was needed that could challenge the Imperial Battleships, which despite the best efforts of the Tau remained the undisputed masters of the void in that region of space. Able to easily take apart any previous design for seemingly trivial damage in return, only concentrated Manta and Gravatic Torpedo strikes seemed able to drive them away, and only at great cost in vessels and personnel.

The Custodian provided a ship that was capable of withstanding the withering firepower of Imperial Battleships, and return with a brutal barrage of its own, all while retaining the strike craft and escort advantages of the old Explorer design on a much faster and more mobile warship.

The Custodian's baptism of fire came during the Taros Campaign, where 6 Custodian Battleships and defected Imperial allies engaged the Imperial liberation forces in open combat. The vessel was a horrifying surprise for Imperial admirals, who were convinced that the Tau had no true battleships, and ruthlessly chased down the Custodians at every opportunity leaving supply lines dangerously exposed to attack. Although the focus of the Imperial fleets on the Custodians did mean heavy casualties among these first Tau Battleships, it did also prove their strengths, as a couple where able to evade Imperial fleets and inflict heavy damage on opposing Imperial battleships in a withering barrage of railguns, ion cannons while striking out with Mantas and Gravatic Torpedoes at targets of opportunity.

After the Taros Campaign, the Custodian is used as a flagship vessel for Tau task forces, as well as a vessel for striking deep into enemy territory and disrupting supply chains. Custodians able to use stealth to slip behind Imperial frontiers in order to terrorise poorly defended worlds while obliterating Imperial patrol fleets and convoys.


End file.
